


Ties that Bind

by httpsruru



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Eventual Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Humor, M/M, Multi, Mystery, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Mythology - Freeform, Romance, britin are soulmates in this one, dark at times but i promise it's all going to work out, non-canon compliant, tags are a pain in the ass so i'll just stop, the gang are greek gods&goddesses, trigger warning: suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:14:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23989459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/httpsruru/pseuds/httpsruru
Summary: Fate's game was indeed a confusing, if not cruel one.A curse cast upon a mere infant, with only one way to break it — a soulmate's kiss.Justin Taylor was already tired of life at the ripe age of seventeen. Having seen figures and people no one else saw ever since he had been little, Justin was sure he was a nutcase, and having an overbearing best friend who was always sure to jump to conclusions of dead spirits and souls didn't help in the slightest.Brian is the god of manipulation and violent death — a cruel, tantalizing soul with seemingly no other purpose than to torment the innocent. Unforgiving, cold and unable to love, Brian is not very excited for the rest of eternity.But what happens when Fate decides to spin them into her games, and give both of them a purpose?
Relationships: Brian Kinney/Justin Taylor (Queer as Folk), Ethan Gold/Justin Taylor (almost)
Kudos: 7





	1. 1 - raison d'être

**1.**

_ raison d'être _

**raison d'être — a reason for existing**

_ The two shadows moved together in a breathtaking dance, love and death embracing each other as soft, inaudible whispers filled the meadow. The dark sky above them smiled down onto their forms, dimming the atmosphere and making the constellations stretching across it shine brighter, as to honor the intertwining of their slender forms. The taller shadow pulled his lover down to the ground, rolling around until he was able to brace himself on top of him, supporting himself on his elbows as to not crush his precious gift. Gazing down softly at the mesmerizing, deep obsidian-colored eyes he felt his throat close up painfully. They were blanketed in the powerful feeling of their love for one another, in a safe cocoon hidden away from everyone and everything else. Had they not been gods, Eros thought he’d gladly die right in that moment.  _

_ “You’re so beautiful tonight,” he murmured as a lazy finger stroked down the lean body, leaving a trail of earth-shattering sparkles in its wake. His partner chuckled dryly and shook his head in disbelief. _

_ “So are you, my love,” he answered, his sharp canines sinking into the softness of his bottom lip. “And I didn’t even need an arrow in my chest to say that,” he added as an afterthought, enjoying the way his lover groaned and pressed his face into his shoulder. Suddenly, he felt the man’s lips leave scorching kisses as he went lower and lower, reaching his navel. Only then did Eros raise his head again, a mischievous glint in his glimmering gold eyes.  _

_ “I can put an arrow somewhere else, if you’d like me to,” he offered graciously, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of his lover’s hips. Soon, he replaced his hands with this mouth and teeth, nipping at the slightly red, but still glowing skin gently, not wanting to hurt the god beneath him.  _

_ “You’re so dirty,” the other teased, yelping slightly when his beloved bit him harder. “Alright, I surrender, stop being naughty,” he said. His nose scrunched up adorably and Eros found himself lost in the midnight black irises yet again. It had become a customary action of his ever since they had started this deathly dance, destined to end in doom. He had sworn to himself early on, that he would indulge in his completely misplaced desires once, and walk out of the underworld without as much as a glance back, however, it only took one swim in those magnificent eyes and he kept coming back for more.  _

_ “My love for you is as big and majestic as this universe,” he confessed, an enamored smile gracing his lips. Upon hearing the sharp intake of breath of his lover, a pleased expression stretched across his face. “I will prove it to you, my adored one. I will give you the stars, the moon, every constellation that exists—” _

_ “I am not quite sure Asteria would appreciate you doing that,” the smaller man interjected with a teasing smile, shaking his head at his lover’s silliness. They weren’t meant to be together; he found his promises hilarious, if not heart-wrenching.  _

_ “And a son.” _

☽

The eerie quiet of the house unnerved Justin. He could hear the clock on his wall ticking away, making his skin crawl with fear of the approach of yet another day. His heart was beating fast and he saw stars behind his clenched eyes. His fingers gripped onto his sheets harder, so hard he was sure his knuckles had turned white, if only judging from the tingle of pain making its way up to his wrists. Taking a few gulps of much needed air, he finally untangled his fists from the crumpled sheets as he opened his eyes. 

His room was pitch black, save for the enormous windows. The Moon was not particularly bright that night, and wasn't angled right in order to shine through his honey-colored drapes. Justin wasn't a little kid anymore — for fuck's sake, he had turned sixteen just the previous year, but he was still so, so scared. His age didn't mean anything when he lay on his bed every night, facing the weird, pale figures in the corner of his room. 

If he was being honest, he had already gotten fairly used to the strange creatures residing within the four walls of his bedroom. More often than not they were just simple people, granted, looking a bit grayer than someone living would, but Justin refused to refer to them as ghosts. He had never believed in the ridiculous horror stories his peers had joked around with every summer around the campfire when they went on their annual camping week. He didn’t think anything supernatural existed, be it vampires, spirits, or even God; the whole concept was just foreign for him. That, of course, didn’t leave many other options as to exactly what was going on in Justin’s head other than just simply being clinically crazy.

He tried not to dwell on it much, though, not that he succeeded. Justin was an over-thinker thorough and thorough, not a single doubt about it. He analyzed and observed everything around him with an embarrassing depth, sometimes not even realizing he was doing it. Mostly the little things, such as people’s tones when they spoke, or their body language; for example every time Chris Hobbs was about to swing his fist at him in hopes of coating his body with new bruises, his shoulders got really tense, his hands shaking as if he had Parkinson’s syndrome. It was those two tell-tale signs that had managed to keep Justin fairly well out of trouble for the past couple of weeks, so he supposed he should be grateful to an extent for his abilities in reading people. 

Times like these, though, he wished the pain stayed exclusively roaming around the areas with the actual bruises. He was getting tired of the constant lump in his throat, or the way he could feel his airways practically closing up every time he saw the dark worry in his mother’s eyes, even the way Daphne’s lips curled into an elegant, but heart-wrenching smile after particularly bad meltdowns, or his father’s eyes shooting daggers of pure hatred towards him every time they had to spend more than five minutes in each other’s presence.

Truthfully, Justin couldn’t really pinpoint when everything had gone so… So off-track, for lack of better wording. He couldn’t remember the last time he slept through an entire night without nightmares of wings and blood tormenting him, or when the last time he hadn't seen people others around him couldn't see was. He could feel his mind crumbling down, crashing hardly into a dark space, a hole so deep he wasn't sure he could ever crawl out of it. 

Justin flipped onto his back with a sigh, his heart momentarily skipping a beat at the sound of his crumpling sheets before it registered that it wasn't the pale young man in the corner of his room emitting the sounds. He forcefully dragged his blanket over himself, getting frustrated as one of his legs got caught in the motion and bent painfully before finally settling into somewhat of a comfortable position. He glanced at the clock on his bedside table, noting dully that it was almost four in the morning, and he closed his eyes as he tried desperately to fall asleep. Sleep hadn't come though, and Justin ended up with things being the same as the morning came. 

The guy in the corner was still there, the deep purple bags under his eyes showed his lack of sleep clearly. Nothing out of the ordinary. 

Justin only wondered why he was getting up from his bed every morning if things never changed. 

  
  


School was a hassle, at best. It hadn't always been, but Justin found that high school was vastly different from how middle school had been, especially seeing as he went to the most stuck-up and conservative private school that existed in Pittsburgh. St. James Academy was an old, majestic brick building that housed only five hundred students, the richest of the rich. Justin loathed everything the institution represented. He thought that no amount of golden prizes, Ivy League admissions or outstanding performances could cover up the ugly truth that lay within the brick walls. His mind immediately flashed to the countless of times he had ended up at the nurse with bruises, cuts and even an occasional concussion or two. Granted, it hadn’t always been like that.

He remembered coming to the establishment with fixed plans of minding his own business, getting good grades, studying diligently so that he would pass his SATs with flying colors. He had been such an innocent, naive boy. Filled with sugary dreams of flowers and art, something that warmed his heart; with hope swirling along his blood in his veins. All that was gone, though. 

Gone was the innocence, the sweet smiles and words coated in an unearthly kindness. 

He looked around the corridor before ripping off the batch of post-it notes stuck onto his locker and cautiously opening it. He sneaked a glance or two yet again and finally deciding that he was fairly protected from anyone who wanted to see him actually dead, he carefully slipped two painkillers onto his palm, swallowing them dry. He scowled at the bitter taste, smacking his lips together in an attempt to make the aftertaste go away. He hated taking his prescribed medication, but the migraine that day was just too much to handle. It was as if his head was being hammered open with an axe. He felt every vein pulsing painfully, only adding to the annoyance he was already experiencing thanks to the lack of sleep. 

Hands slithered around his torso and soft, rose-scented hair tickled his neck. Justin let out a soft smile before turning around and gently pushing his best friend away. 

"Daph, you seriously have to stop trying to feel me up when I'm not paying attention," he said. Cocking his eyebrow, he stared down at the slightly shorter girl wearing her signature wide smile as her fingers traced elegant patterns on his necktie. Gently prying the girl's hands away, he watched as she pouted. 

"I can't help it, Jus," she sighed. "Your twink-ish body just calls to me like no other male. Your testosterones are simply rolling off those deliciously visible ribs," she said, fanning herself dramatically for good measure. Justin let out at unamused snort as he hooked his arm around her neck and started dragging her towards their first class of yet another hellish day. 

"Those circles under your eyes are atrocious, by the way," she added after a while, making Justin roll his eyes so far he could practically see his brain.

His friendship with Daphne was weird. He had no solid memory of when the girl had shown up in his life unannounced, taking it upon herself to declare them ‘best friends at first sight’, which was, as she would say, the platonic version of love at first sight. Justin learned not to try and find logic in the stuff she said, soon growing accustomed to the rather unorthodox things that would leave the petite teenager’s mouth. His favorite so far had been the way Daphne saw murder as the only solution to any minor inconvenience. Your husband wants to divorce you? Kill him. Your bed isn’t comfortable enough? Kill all employees of the company that were responsible for making it. Don’t like your country’s authoritative figures? Easy peasy lemon squeezy, a simple case of exsanguination will do! Maybe murder was also the answer to his hallucinations. It would eliminate the problem for sure. 

“So, your birthday is coming up this Friday,” Daphne said with feigned innocence, and Justin knew solely from the look in her eyes that they would either end up dead in a ditch, or in the ER, like last year. Maybe that was the reason why his mother was always so uptight around Daphne. His father couldn’t care less about what trouble the girl got his son into, though, happy that he was even interacting with girls. Craig Taylor was one extremely delusional man. 

“Yeah. The big seventeen. It’s like a filler chapter in those fanfictions you read when you think no one’s looking in class,” he said, a mocking smile resting upon his lips. Daphne rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh before answering. 

“Shut up, Justin,” she bumped his shoulder before taking a seat in the front row. “Be ready at eleven on Friday. I’m taking you out. Trust me, you won’t regret this one,” she winked at him as the bell rang, and Justin squirmed uncomfortably. His chest tightened at the hopeful look Daphne was shooting him, and he knew the girl had noticed how out of it he had been for the past few weeks. 

Truth was, Justin didn’t want to go out on Friday, or any other day for that matter. He was perfectly fine with being in his room and staying there the whole day like the hermit he was. Well, as fine as one with hallucinations could be, anyway. He had told Daphne about the people he kept seeing, and much to his surprise his best friend had not only believed him, but had also spent weeks researching whatever she could. Strangely enough, she had never once brought up the idea of Justin being mentally ill, which Justin found completely outrageous, seeing as being a nutcase was his only explanation so far. Daphne hadn’t wanted to hear any of that nonsense, as she called it, and kept on babbling about dead souls and spirits. 

Now, that was an idea Justin didn’t want to entertain.

Sensing that Daphne was still staring at him, waiting for an affirmative answer, he sighed and turned his head towards her. 

“Okay,” he gave in with a scowl. “But make it midnight and we’re going to have to sneak out,” he added just as their World History teacher, Mr. Anderson entered the classroom with a deep frown etched across his face, much like any other normal day. 

Justin caught the glance Daphne shot him just before he turned around to face the board and he had to will his anxiety to go down. Judging by the absolutely crazy gaze of his best friend, it was safe to say that Justin would be lucky if he ended up surviving his birthday. 

☽

_ Eris stared into the spiraling water as it displayed the image of the alabaster skin of the young, pale boy with amusement swirling in her light greenish eyes. She could feel the knowledge of this boy’s fate almost caressing her fingers gently, much like a pleasant spring breeze, except there was nothing pleasant about awaiting someone’s inevitable death. Especially a frail boy like young Justin, whose mind was just so incredibly and deliciously sensitive, Eris wished she could reach into it to do whatever she pleased with the boy. Although, she realized it would not have been a good idea, her fear of Hades running deeper than the need to manipulate the boy to her heart’s content. She had caused enough turmoil already — despite knowing that there was no such thing as ‘enough turmoil’ —, and so she supposed she could wait a few more days, watching his destiny unfold in front of her eyes.  _

_ Upon hearing the light steps from behind the white pillars, she whipped her head around and smiled cunningly at Aphrodite. _

_ “Are you sure this is going to work, Eris?” she asked, uncertainty clear in her velvety voice, no matter how hard she tried to conceal it. The goddess stared deep into the hazel eyes of her sister, a cryptic smile stretching across her cherry-colored lips.  _

_ “Shouldn’t you have asked me a few centuries ago?” she chimed. “And besides, don’t you trust me?” _

_ “Of course I do, you know I do,” her sister replied immediately. “But… A half-human child? Why didn’t you ask Them thread him together with Ligeia?” _

_ “She’s the daughter of that poor excuse of a woman, and she got what she wanted anyway, didn't she?” Eris waved a dismissing hand. “The curse has been going on for more than six hundred years, and while it already caused many disputes that I absolutely adored, it was never meant to last forever,” she chuckled icily.  _

_ “May I ask why you’re helping him, still?” asked Aphrodite after a few moments of thoughtful silence, with a cautious look on her face, confusion clear in the greenish-gold eyes.  _

_ “He was but a mere baby,” Eris shrugged, dipping her hand into the water, thus dissipating the image of the young boy in the dark of his room. “This child is the only one who will be able to break the curse, the reason for him to continue existing” she added softly, brushing her hair behind her ear.  _

_ “What you are doing is a good deed, sister,” Aphrodite offered gently, a smirk taking over the pleased smile previously stretched across her face. “Lord knows we all need a break from Bahram’s wreath.” _

  
  



	2. 2 - sciamachy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a great week everyone <3

**2.**

**_sciamachy — a battle against imaginary enemies_ **

_ The sky looked grim, furious red and midnight black swirling in angry flames together. Hades was definitely not pleased at the turn of things, and Persephone couldn’t help but feel a bit at a loss. She didn’t understand why her husband seemed to care so much about the boy that was the result of one of his escapades to the living world. So what if his mother didn’t intend to tell him about his heritage, that he was a demigod? Who on Earth even cared? The worst thing that could happen was the boy blowing someone up. Of course, it looked as if no one shared her opinion. Even Thanatos seemed to share his friend’s pain. The only one who was apathetic was Bahram, but then again he never really showed any emotion that went beyond anger and lust, so she felt completely alone in her annoyance. _

_ “Who does she think she is?” Hades seethed, a glass breaking somewhere in his wake. Bahram looked up with a cocked eyebrow, ignoring the warning glance of his father as he opened his mouth to offer his input on the situation. _

_ “Why is the child so important?” he asked, swaying his leg with an absentminded expression clouding his face.  _

_ “I know that he has a great deal of power already,” the King answered, his tone so confident no one dared to question his words. “I can feel it,” he shook his head with a scowl. Persephone rolled her eyes, but otherwise remained silent. Thanatos didn’t seem to know what the right thing would be to say, and so he chose to wisely stay quiet.  _

_ “So bring him here,” Bahram said with a shrug of his shoulders, sitting up right and preparing to stand up. Thanatos watched his son with furrowed eyebrows, wondering just where he wanted to wander off to yet again. He had always known Bahram was a peculiar child, what with being cursed at his birth and being doomed to unhappiness for eternity. However, with the way he spent so much time away from the underworld, Thanatos couldn’t help but think that something major was up. Something that was not big enough to catch his attention, but big enough to make his son disappear for extensive amount of times.  _

_ “You absolute fool!” Hades bellowed, turning his head sharply in Bahram’s direction. “Are you suggesting I kill my own son?” he snarled, stepping closer to the young god. Bahram stood up simply, not wavering beneath the murderous glare of his king. He knew there wouldn’t be a bloodbath that day.  _

_ Bahram smirked, and licked his lower lip with glowing eyes before he answered. “I mean no disrespect by this, my King, but if it is that important to you to meet him, then I see no other option.” _

_ Hades heaved a heavy sigh, his facial expression softening into a deep frown after a few seconds as he fell back into his throne. A skull cracked beneath his weight but he paid it no mind as he shook his head and grunted in defeat.  _

_ “I suppose you’re right, boy,” he admitted grudgingly. “It can’t be helped then. There’s only the hope that Danai can keep him out of trouble.” _

☽

Liberty Avenue was bustling with life. Rainbow-colored flags were swaying everywhere as the chatter throughout the street provided Justin with background noise. He did his best not to touch people as Daphne and he walked down the busy roads, but he still managed to run into a few guys. At first he had turned to apologize to everyone he had stumbled into, but after a few occasions he noticed that no one else did, and so by now he didn’t bother to say sorry to any of them. Daphne was looking around in wonder, ogling everyone that passed by them, her eyes nearly falling out of their sockets. Justin snickered, thinking that his best friend was so obviously and painfully straight. He had to give her credit, though, not once in their four years of being best friends had she said anything even remotely homophobic. In fact, she had always done her best to support Justin throughout everything, starting with the realization itself that he was gay, up to the point where he had come out to his parents. 

His father, of course, had been a bigot about it. Justin hadn’t expected anything less, however, that it hurt any less when his father had started verbally berating him, blaming his sexual orientation for everything he had done wrong in his life. He had immediately thrown a duffel bag to Justin’s chest, telling him to get out and to never come back. Justin had gone to Daphne’s house, where they had spent the following week alone; Daphne’s parents out of the country as usual. His mother had persuaded his father to allow him to come home, and no matter how much Justin wanted to stay in the safe bubble of Daph’s home, he couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved that his family hadn’t been torn up completely just because he had come out. 

Granted, his relationship with his father had been strained at best ever since, but it was a small price to pay to see his little sister grow up with two parents who were together. Justin thought that sometimes Molly was the only one that kept him from running away or doing something even worse, despite the differences they obviously had. Molly was a very loud and lively child, with an annoying high-pitched voice that just seemed to rip through Justin’s eardrums every time she started shouting about something, but he loved her nonetheless. 

Daphne snapped him out of the depth of his thoughts with a tug on his hoodie’s sleeve as she pointed towards a street vendor who seemed to be selling some kind of jewelry. He rolled his eyes, but allowed himself to be dragged over to the strange, old man who watched them with his lips turned up into a funny smirk. Daphne was completely in love with all the designs of the bracelets and necklaces hanging from sculptures made of wood. The man smiled at her warmly when their eyes locked, and Daphne’s grin became even wider, a glint of something Justin didn’t recognize flashing in her eyes. 

“Would you two younglings by any chance be interested in something here?” he asked, a friendly, almost fatherly edge to his voice. Justin’s chest tightened as involuntary images of the last time his father had talked to him like that creeped before his imaginary eyes. He shook his head a bit in order to snap out of it and smiled politely, letting Daphne do the talking. 

“What do the inscriptions mean?” she asked as she held up a bracelet with a silver plate, a few words in a language Justin didn’t recognize engraved into it. 

“Polyktonos,” he mused, “is a word written in ancient Greek. It means murderous, or much-slaying.”

“How uplifting,” Justin snickered, shaking his head lightly. “We should get two of those, Daph, and then go on a killing spree,” he smiled at her wickedly, biting down on his lower lip as the girl rolled her eyes and smacked his chest. 

“Shut it, Jus,” she huffed, picking up another bracelet. “So what’s this one?” she smiled mischievously. 

“Ah, that one’s Telephilon,” the old man replied with a smile of his own. “It means ‘far-away love', but is also a name of a plant which was struck with a hand to see if one’s love was returned. It’s the ancient Greek version of ‘Love me, love me not’, I suppose,” he said gruffly. 

“Sounds nice,” Justin hummed, picking up a bracelet with the same words etched into the shiny plate. "Do you have anything that has to do with friendship?" he asked, and almost shy tone to his voice. He felt pink embarrassment creep up his neck and color his cheeks at the incredulous look Daphne gave him, but chose to ignore her. If he wanted to be nice, then he damn well would be nice, and Daphne could just shove something up her ass. 

"This one's Philia," the man picked up another accessory, holding it out for the young boy to take. "A word used when describing deep platonic love, something one would usually feel towards an important friend," he supplied helpfully as his gaze held onto Justin's gentle fingers examining the bracelet in his hand. The boy twirled it around for a few moments before looking up at the vendor. 

" We'll take t—"

His sentence however got interrupted by someone knocking into him. Justin's hair stood at the nape of his neck, an involuntary shiver racing down his spine. He could feel his muscles tense under the lingering accidental touch of the stranger and he whipped his head around without really wanting to. Dangerously glistening hazel eyes bore into his own gaze in an instant, the swirling myriad of emotions deeply penetrating the blond boy's soul. He felt his breath hitch as he blinked once, and the next moment the stranger was gone. 

He frowned, not being able to stop the hollowness from weaseling its way into him, spreading around his lungs like black poison, attaching itself to his every fibre and leaving him with a feeling of emptiness he knew all too well. He couldn't fucking believe he'd just had a hallucination in broad daylight, in the middle of a busy street, in front of so many people. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, willing the angry tears back as sharp pain suddenly made itself known. He could feel every painful pulse of his veins in his head, and with a deep inhale of air he dropped the bracelet from his palm as if it burned him. 

He refused to look at anyone as he impulsively started making his way down towards the street they had come from, not even caring if Daphne was following him or not. Ropes of sadness tightened around his neck, an uncomfortable lump settle into his throat, making it difficult to breath. He knew he had to stop from walking so fast soon, he could feel his lungs screaming for air but the desire to get away from the crowd was much greater than his shortness of breath. 

He couldn't believe it. At first, the hallucinations had only been confined to the four walls of his bedroom, solely appearing at nighttime. After a while, he had seen the figures in various points of his house, despite of it being daytime, but that, he could get used to. He, however, could not make peace with the fact with the possibility of seeing them at any point of the day, no matter where he was. It was unnerving, and he could feel the uncertain anxiety creeping up his spine, hugging his lungs into it in a deathly embrace. 

He took a sharp turn into a tiny alley, and stopped abruptly, throwing his back against the cold, unwelcoming brick wall. He closed his eyes tightly, starting to see stars with the strength he clenched them shut. His huffs of breath came out as wheezes, although he couldn’t be too sure with the way his ears were ringing. He faintly heard the sound of someone calling his name, but he was too afraid to open his eyes, in fear of finding out that the voice was just a hallucination too. He could feel his body tremble with the erratic pace of his heartbeats rocking through him, and he suddenly felt his legs give out as he slid along the wall onto the harsh ground. He pressed his head between his knees, taking huge gulps of air as he desperately tried to calm down. 

He didn’t know how much time passed. The seconds, the minutes or even hours spiraled together in a colorful blur before Justin felt like he could open his eyes and walk without fainting or dying. He blinked a few times, focusing on the concrete beneath him before he glanced up warily and was met with Daphne’s worried eyes. Sharp pain jabbed at his chest as guilt settled in and his lower lip quivered. 

“I’m sorry, Daph, I’m so—”

“None of that,” the girl answered as she crouched down in front of him, gently placing her warm hand on his knees for support. Justin flinched for a second but eventually settled into the loving touch and bit down on his lower lip. “You need anything? We could go to the diner and buy some food,” she said with a soft smile, rubbing his leg. Justin let out an unelegant snort.

“And have my head split open by the screeching of that redhead waitress? Spare me,” he waved his hand dismissively, letting out a deep breath and wiping away the dry tears on his cheeks. “Just let me gather myself for a few more moments.”

“As you wish, your highness,” she rolled her eyes. “We will talk about this later when you want to, Jus.”

“Well, I won’t fucking want to talk about it,” he said heatedly, rubbing his hands over his face with a frustrated sigh. “Sorry, Daph, it’s not you. I just- I saw another hallucination. It’s nothing,” he exhaled.

“It’s obviously something if you had a freaking panic attack over it, Justin,” she huffed out. “And stop calling them hallucinations,” she added silently, a faraway look suddenly resting upon her face. Justin’s eyebrows creased into a deep frown, scowling at this best friend.

“But that’s what they are, Daphne. They are not real people. You don’t see them, my mother doesn’t see them, Godiva herself couldn’t see them if she knew,” he spoke rapidly, his hands clenching into frustrated fists. “Because they aren’t  _ there. _ I’m just so fucking fucked in the head, that’s it,” he finished curtly, snapping his mouth shut and closing his eyes. 

Daphne chewed on her lower lip, frowning.  _ Hades have mercy on us, _ she mused in her head as she tried — and failed — to give Justin a reassuring smile. 

☽

_ Bahram surveyed the meadow stretching across in front of him with a stoic facial expression. The dead flowers dissolved into fine dust before his very own eyes, making his chest tighten with an unknown feeling. Icy blue eyes swam around in his head, accompanied with the angelic smile of the boy he kept seeing for the past few months.  _

_ Bahram didn’t know who he was, but he knew he yearned to have him. It was a scary feeling, the longing embedded into his chest. What he longed for exactly, he could not really pinpoint despite the baby blues that have seemed to completely take over his every waking thought. Shaking his head with a scowl, he watched as yet another daisy faltered and became dust, the wind softly picking it up and carrying it across the sky. He sighed, turning his back to the meadow and started making his way down the hill.  _

_ His musings could wait for another day, or a few centuries.  _

**Author's Note:**

> A little 'cheat sheet' as to what's going to be everyone's 'godly' names.  
> Brian - Bahram  
> Emmett - Erastos  
> Michael - Michalis  
> Ted - Theophylaktos  
> Lindsay - Ligeia  
> Melanie - Melaina  
> Daphne - Danai


End file.
